WHITEHOUSE 



It is a flower whereof enough use is not made 

 by country lovers. Perhaps we despise it for being 

 so cheap ; you can get a thousand of its gnarled 

 tubers for a few shillings. But these require a little 

 care in starting. Many people have been disappointed 

 at the result of planting out tubers in a dry state 

 as they come from a tradesman. They simply rot 

 if they are set out in close turf. The proper way 

 to naturalise them is to grow them for a season in 

 rows in rather a sandy border ; in the following spring, 

 when the bloom is fading, take them up carefully 

 with as much soil as will stick to them, and plant 

 them where you would have them grow permanently. 

 No place is more favourable than a hollow wood of 

 deciduous trees, where the turf is not too dense. 

 Here they will rapidly increase by seed and offsets: 

 rabbits will not touch them, and the display will be 

 something to look forward to in the darkest time 

 of the year. A newly introduced species, Eranthis 

 cilicica, has been described as better than our old 

 friend hyemalis. I cannot see wherein is its 

 superiority ; the frill, instead of being bright grass 

 green, has a bronze tint, undesirable at a season when 

 verdure is particularly to be coveted, and as yet the 

 plant is ten times the price of the other. 



Unlike the aconite, it is only in enclosed grounds 

 like those of Whitehouse, where the accursed rabbit 

 comes not, that the crocus can obtain and maintain 

 a footing. Even so, the bulbs are often the prey of 

 mice and voles ; but where these charming flowers 

 D 33 



